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Hi, I got into airbrushing a year ago and it does 80% of the work for me now.

Once I am done with the airbrushing and move on to detailing with the brush I give everything a good coat of Vallejo varnish because airbrushed paint takes quite sometime until it is hard enough to not get accidentally wiped away / stick to masking tape and because I like how especially equalizes the surface which makes it easier to apply paint by brush on top.

When finished I give everything another coat of matt varnish but I find that the result is still much glossier compared to no varnish. For some models I dont mind some gloss but now I am getting back into DKOK and gloss just doesnt work for me on them.

Is there a good way or product that removes the gloss? I've so far only used Vallejo's varnish and I know there is e.g. an army painter "anti-shine" spray.

Any suggestion are much appreciated! Thanks!

Make sure you are really shaking up the matte varnish, matte varnish is effectively gloss varnish with stuff in it that deflects light - if you don't shake it, that stuff sits at the bottom and doesn't give the matte effect

Testors Dullcote. The flattest varnish there is.

Plus, if you're spraying varnish, you might not necessarily be getting the coverage you think, you could try extra coats.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Testors Dullcote. The flattest varnish there is.

This. Dullcote will turn pure gloss into pure matte with a single layer, maybe two at most.

Dullcote should really take away any shine. It's the best by far!!

Thanks guys!

Even Testors can leave a bit of shine behind if you gloss coat your models first (and I do). If you're already airbrushing and using Vallejo, get a bottle of Vallejo Matte Medium (not varnish). Shake it up good, thin it down and strain out the chunks so you can shoot it through the airbrush, nothing beats it. I use it with high PSI (about 45) and use small amounts at a time to mist the model. You don't want to get the model wet, you don't want an even coat, just pull the action back for a little spritz at a time with a dual action airbrush and with plenty of air flowing it'll dry right after it hits the model. Kills the shine absolutely and completely and I've never had it fog up a figure like the occasional bad can of spray varnish will. I can also do it inside so I don't have to worry about the weather affecting the varnish

Couldn't agree with you more Kalamadea.

Also, they only difference between gloss & matte is talc.....industrial talc that is. That's why you need to ensure that you shake the hell out of matte varnish before you apply it. Otherwise you could end up with a less than adequate matte affect.

Testors dullcoat is amazing - there are TONS of threads on it.

A good airbrush matte is the testors acryl clear flat.

This is my go to matte varnish for use with an airbrush (depending on the needle size in your brush, you may want to cut it slightly with alcohol).

best of luck!

 Optimus wrote:
Couldn't agree with you more Kalamadea.

Also, they only difference between gloss & matte is talc.....industrial talc that is. That's why you need to ensure that you shake the hell out of matte varnish before you apply it. Otherwise you could end up with a less than adequate matte affect.

Really?! As luck would have it, I have a 50 gallon drum of super high quality industrial talc originally purposed for cosmetics manufacture in my garage (it's a long story....). **Wonder if I can make glossy varnish matte **

I, too, have a bucket of industrial talc here, and I FINALLY found a local equivalent of future floor finish.

RESULTS PENDING

kb_lock wrote:
I, too, have a bucket of industrial talc here, and I FINALLY found a local equivalent of future floor finish.

RESULTS PENDING

Oh! I have that too (Klear).

I think it is so bizarre that there are TWO people that have a whole bunch of Talc that they don't really need

I bought mine for some hirst arts molds, apparently it is good for storage.

And Klear apparently isn't a thing here either - some dude is importing pledge one go and selling it for $30 a bottle (or more)

This was Pascoe's Long Life

http://www.bunnings.com.au/long-life-1l-self-shining-floor-polish_p4460498

Looks and acts exactly like Vallejo gloss, albeit at 1% of the price

I find I can get rid of all the shine simply by applying my dulling varnish in multiple thin passes. Best to not apply a thick coat of matt varnish with an airbrush because of the matting agent (talc) separating out, but if I want a model to look like it hasn't had a gloss at all then I do 3 or so thin passes and it seems to work fine for me.

As people have mentioned you have to make sure you shake the matt varnish otherwise it'll come out more glossy.

I wonder if Testors Dullcote is so popular largely because it's a lacquer and in general lacquers tend to go on smoother and more repeatable. Testors make a bottle (rather than spray) version of Dullcote which is lacquer based but I haven't tried it though. Looks like Alclad have one too, I've never tried it either.

kb_lock wrote:
I bought mine for some hirst arts molds, apparently it is good for storage.

And Klear apparently isn't a thing here either - some dude is importing pledge one go and selling it for $30 a bottle (or more)

This was Pascoe's Long Life

http://www.bunnings.com.au/long-life-1l-self-shining-floor-polish_p4460498

Looks and acts exactly like Vallejo gloss, albeit at 1% of the price

Most of the experienced modellers I've spoken to say that Long Life is a poor substitute for Klear and there is no real replacement for it. I've never tried Klear so I have no idea. For pre-decalling or weathering I just use Humbrol Clear (which is supposed to be Humbrol's attempt to replicate Klear, though again most people say it's not the same) and I prefer to polish my canopies anyway so I don't do varnish dipping on those.

Yeah I'd heard that PLL wasn't as good, but from what I have seen it is great.

I brushed it on for a base for some marine shoulder pad decals and it was great, then I run it through my airbrush at a turd marine and worked pretty well there too.

I am yet to find a problem with it, apparently people don't like it being ammonia based (or something) and that it can strip paint? I am used to working with iso and oil paints on minis so it isn't a problem for me yet.

Most the complaints I've heard about PLL was that it doesn't work as well on canopies and doesn't go on as smooth. But again I've never used Klear so I'm just relaying what the guys at the hobby shop say (who I usually believe because between them they've produced some awesome looking models, one guy had his models featured in Finescale Modeler while the owner has some of the nicest looking aircraft I've seen in person).

Interesting, I've not tried it on a canopy yet (but I will at some point). I did test it on some clear plastic cups, and it self levels amazingly - like, I put a thumb print in it while it was tacky and came back to it being perfectly flat.

That said, I've never tried future either - but I'd say PLL is better than Vallejo gloss so far

I don't like Vallejo acrylic resin gloss at all The stuff orange peels or grains up way too easy for my liking. It's not too bad if you simply plan on overcoating it with a satin or matt anyway, but if you actually want a gloss finish I don't like it and I didn't find it to be a brilliant base for decals.

It probably works fine if you're just weathering though.

Thanks again all, this is why I like this forum!

* I didn't shake the matt varnish at all.
* I will stay away from gloss varnish and just use matt varnish all the time.
* I will try multiple thin layers.

If that won't do the trick, I will resort to the other suggestions.

IMO to get rid of the gloss just respray it with Testors Dull Coat. I find like others said doing small layers work. Don't shake the bottle of Testors Dull Coat use the clear stuff on top to reduce the clouding. Normally it isn't an issue. I tend to use a mix of Future (Klear) and Testors Dull Coat for the final coat. The Future seals the model very nicely but, it is too glossy add a few drops in Testors should do the trick.